


The Wolf, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

by mon-amour-eternel (cettevieestbien)



Series: kc drabbles [8]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Chronicles of Narnia Fusion, Alternate Universe - Human, F/M, Rating May Change, Time Travel, Vikings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-02 11:59:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10217540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cettevieestbien/pseuds/mon-amour-eternel
Summary: “I assure you, this is real,” Niklaus said, standing a little taller. “You aren’t the first one to come here, dressed like this and talking so oddly. They all thought we were fake, but no. We are just as real as you and every other person on the planet.”OR,Caroline goes into a wardrobe and finds herself in 10th century Mystic Falls.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr.

Caroline did it on a dare.

She, along with all of her friends, had been a little tipsy and playing Truth or Dare. Since she was playing with Damon, there was no safe option. Truth was always sexual, and dare was always something that ripped you from your comfort zone.

But she’d much rather have to, like, eat a worm than tell anyone about the time Damon found her vibrator. She’d done it before, and though she didn’t want to, she’d do it again.

But when she said “dare,” he had something else in mind.

Something else was, “I dare you to go to the old Mikaelson mansion and find something cool, then bring it back.”

The mansion was giant, creepy, and shut up tight. When she read To Kill A Mockingbird for the first time, she’d imagined Boo Radley’s house to look like the Mikaelson mansion. At the time, Hope Mikaelson (more commonly known as Old Woman Hope) had still been holding onto life with both hands. The house had been nice but distant from the rest of the town.

Caroline knew it wasn’t because of the old rumor – that Hope’s mother had died there – but she did know that the house was creepy as hell and no one went in it.

But Damon dared her to, and no one said no to a dare from Damon Salvatore. Not unless they wanted to reveal their deepest, darkest secret to all their friends. She’d heard enough about Stefan’s weird blood fetish and Tyler’s dealings with Slutty Sophie (in the cellar of the Lockwood mansion, gross) the last times it had happened to last a lifetime.

So, she nutted up, and accepted the dare.

Elena, Bonnie, and even Matt looked concerned for her. Stefan looked between her and Damon like he wasn’t sure she’d do it.

But she would do anything – she was Caroline Forbes, and Forbes women didn’t back down.

So they trudged to the mansion, Elena making worried noises the whole way. Bonnie swung between worried about her wellbeing and worried about being arrested.

Worry for her won out when Caroline opened the doors and rat scampered out, scaring the bejesus out of them all.

“Don’t feel like you have to,” she nearly pleaded. “It’s just Damon. Who cares about impressing him?”

“Damn Bonnie,” Damon crowed as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “I’m hurt. It’s not like I’m sending her to her death, anyway. Just inside the old, creepy ass building in the woods to steal something and make an Indy-Jones-esque exit. I’m not asking that much.”

They all rolled their eyes at him. For being the oldest, he was the least responsible.

“Well, when you say it like that,” Caroline drawled, trying to not let it show that Bonnie and Damon were tripping her up. She didn’t think would be dangerous, just creepy, but they were making it sound like the house could be sentient. A real life Monster House – which just so happened to scare her to the bone when it came out.

Elena and Matt both calmed at her words, but Bonnie looked unconvinced.

“If you aren’t out in fifteen minutes, I’m coming in to get you,” she said seriously.

Caroline nodded that she understood, and went in.

At first, there wasn’t much to look at. A staircase, a fireplace, a big table with nothing on it. A chandelier, and lots and lots of doorways. It looked like any old house that hadn’t had anyone living in it for over a decade.

There was almost nothing to bring back, unless Damon wanted an old Chinese place menu off the fridge or a cup that looked just like ones he had at home.

So, she started opening up the doors.

One was a bathroom, one was a closet, one was home to a raccoon that scared the shit out of her. She didn’t scream – Bonnie would’ve burst in and ended the dare, landing her in secret-revealing time – but she did back up to the door on the other side of the hallway.

She opened it cautiously, expecting like with the other doors that the girl from the Ring would pop out and kill her. But there was nothing in the room but a tall piece of furniture with a tarp of some kind over it.

When she pulled the tarp off, it was revealed to be a wardrobe.

Hmm. Maybe she could steal a coat or something, make a joke about Damon’s cold blood.

She opened the wardrobe and looked around. There wasn’t a coat or anything, but the back of it was oddly black. The room was dark, but moonlight shone and she could see the corners connecting the sides to the back wall. But the back wall wasn’t there, it was just black.

She pressed her fingers to the blackness, but there was nothing there. Her fingers went past where the wall was supposed to be, and she fell slightly forward.

Two feelings washed over her: wrongness and curiosity.

Curiosity won out, and she climbed in.

The wardrobe was much bigger than it looked. She took several steps into the dark, unsure of what she would find. She was tipsy enough that she wasn’t scared, but in that same vein, she was convinced she was just drunkenly imagining it.

The floor of the wardrobe was wooden. She stumbled when her feet were suddenly on grass, surrounded by dimly lit trees.

“What the hell….” She mumbled to herself, looking around. The trees weren’t familiar, but the sound of water nearby was. It the sound of a waterfall, a sound she’d heard many times. She turned slightly, and came face to face with a very familiar waterfall.

She moved towards it, not caring about where she was or how she got there. She just had to see if the waterfall was the same one she’d grown up visiting.

She tripped over a branch, and landed hard. “Ow!”

“Is there someone there?” A voice shouted. A male voice, one that she didn’t recognize as Matt, Stefan, or Damon. “Hello?”

She wasn’t tipsy enough to shout ‘over here!’ like some kind of idiot. She was alone in a place she didn’t know, and there was some guy out there, calling out to her? Hell no.

She tried to stand, tried to move away (to the waterfall or to the wardrobe, either one was fine), but she couldn’t move over the branch. Leaves under her hands crunched. The guy moved closer; she didn’t hear him, but she felt him. His presence moved closer, and she eventually felt eyes on her.

She cursed under her breath. When she looked up, she saw him.

He looked weird, not like the guys who wore fedoras, but like how the Old Hollywood stars looked. They were considered handsome, for the time. She saw the guy in front of her, and got the same feeling – he was cute in an old-time way, not in a modern way.

But she didn’t have much time to dwell on that, because he wasn’t alone, nor was he comfortable with leaving her sprawled on the ground.

“Oh!” He gasped, and ran to her, kneeling by her side. “Are you alright? Do you need help?”

His companion, a dark haired guy, doubled over to see her better.

“I’m fine,” she said, looking between them. “Can you help me up?”

The second she had the opportunity, she’d be gone. She didn’t trust them.

“Of course,” the dark haired one said, and the both offered her a hand. She stood quickly, having to fight off a dizzy spell as soon as she was upright.

The blonde’s hand went to the small of her back. A tidal wave of unease rolled over her. She fell forward into the arms of the blonde, all vision gone to black.

She fainted.

**…:::…**

Caroline woke some time later, in front of a fire.

All tipsiness was gone. In it’s place was a feeling of warmth and security. The walls around her were wooden, the ceiling high above and rounded. It was nothing like what she’d seen, but it didn’t feel wrong. It felt safe.

She leaned up on her elbows, hoping to get a better look around. What she found instead was four people standing near a doorway, where light was streaming in. She recognized two as her saviors, while the other two were another dark haired guy and a blonde girl.

As soon as she was up, they all turned to her. The blondes moved quicker than the brunettes, and she suddenly had two people in her space.

They bombarded her with questions. When she just stared at them like they were crazy, they introduced themselves.

Her saviors were Niklaus (blonde) and Kol (brunette). The other two were Rebekah (other blonde) and Elijah (other brunette). They were siblings, Elijah being the oldest, Rebekah the youngest.

She finally choked her name out.

“Caro…line. Care-oline. Caroline,” Niklaus said, trying it out.

She almost wanted to say that stupid line, ‘that’s my name, don’t wear it out’. Instead, she said, “yeah, that’s my name. And yours is Niklaus.”

He smiled at her. “Yes. Now, are you hungry?”

“I’ve prepared some fish meat,” Rebekah added, obviously hoping she would say yes. But fish for breakfast sounded disgusting to her.

“Oh, no thanks…. Do you have any vegetables?” She tried.

All four of the siblings scrunched up their noses. “Vegetables?” Kol’s voice was delicate, like he didn’t want her to know he thought she was crazy.

“Yeah. I’m not much for meat.” She raised a defiant eyebrow at him. Rebekah giggled, while the older boys smiled.

Rebekah grabbed her hands. “There are some carrots, if you would like some of those.”

“Sure, thank you.” She nodded, hoping they would leave. She wanted a minute alone.

Kol mouthed the word ‘sure’ to Elijah, who shrugged.

Rebekah and Kol left for the gardens (she wasn’t sure where it was, but they said they would be quick), while Elijah left to do some chores. He was quiet but the least enthusiastic about meeting her.

Niklaus, however, didn’t leave.

He walked with her to the doorway, making sure she didn’t fall again.

“I’m fine,” she said, fighting off the urge to bat his hands away.

“If you’re positive,” he said.

“I am,” she snipped back.

He laughed through his nose at her. It was cute, in a way. She leaned up against the doorway, watching him watch her.

She was probably still dreaming. Cute boys only ever showed up in her dreams. And there was no way this was all real. He seemed fake in every way, from his hair to his clothes.

“I assure you, this is real,” Niklaus said, standing a little taller. “You aren’t the first one to come here, dressed like this and talking so oddly. They all thought we were fake, but no. We are just as real as you and every other person on the planet.”

She gaped at him. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

“It is alright. But listen to me. When you leave, you have to come back. Our other brothers will be sorry to have missed you awake.” Niklaus looked her in the eyes, and she was sure he could see everything. “I know your kind, Care-oline. You’ll come back.”

She felt off balance, like the world had shifted. Before she said her fake comment, he’d intrigued her in the best way. He was handsome, old school, and he had funny siblings. Even though she was in weirdo world, he seemed normal.

Not anymore.

She had to leave. She had to get away from his all-knowing eyes.

Any other moment, she would’ve quipped, ‘is that so?’. But not today. Instead, she asked, “will you take me back?”

He licked his lips and looked to the ground. “I don’t know the exact spot. I’m not allowed. But I will take you to the waterfall after we eat. Is that agreeable?”

She nodded, rolling her lips. “Yep.”

He laughed at her again. “What an odd word.”

“Whatever,” she said with an eye roll. The tense moment was gone.

And thank god for it.

**…:::…**

“I–I was gone for hours,” she said, panting. Everyone was crowded around her, and it was a little shocking to go from just Niklaus to all of her friends.

She was only panting because she’d run through the mansion to get the hell away from the wardrobe.

“What are you talking about, Barbie?” Damon asked, clearly freaking out a little. She never acted like this.

“Damon, shut up. Are you okay, Caroline?” Elena asked, moving closer comfortingly.

Bonnie, standing, cajoled, “yeah, come sit down.” Matt even beckoned her towards a fallen log.

She did, but not before looking back at the mansion. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, but it had been real. Niklaus had said so. He’d been so sure that she would want to come back.

And she did. She wanted to see him again. Tomorrow night sounded good to her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caroline goes back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Mikael is an abusive dick.
> 
> Also, I added Aaron for reasons that will be revealed. Freya is still the oldest.

When Caroline stepped onto the grass, she actually had an idea about what she was doing. Instead of stumbling around drunkenly, she was going to...not do that. She would say ‘she was going to find Niklaus’ but the memories of how to get to his house were gone.

So instead, she moved to the waterfall and plopped down, taking her shoes off and sitting halfway in the water. It was day time, and the sun was beating down. In retrospect, she shouldn’t have worn a hoodie, but Mystic Falls in the morning was cold! And how was she supposed to know that this...world or whatever was going to be hot! 

She was still ranting to herself (though the topic had moved from the heat to berating herself for coming again) when Niklaus showed up.

She stood hastily, not bothering to put her shoes back on.

His eyes -- one of which was black, what the hell -- perused her from head to toe. They lingered on her legs, where her jeans were rolled up to the knees. When he met her gaze, there was interest darkening his eyes. She studiously ignored it (though the image went straight to the spank bank).

But all she said was, “what the hell happened to you?” As one, they both winced. God, why did she just say things? Was there no filter? Did she have any tact whatsoever or did exposure to Damon suck it from her like some kind of dementor?

He stepped closer, forcing her thoughts from her shortcomings to him. He had a noticeable limp that he tried and failed to hide; his lip was split and a bruise marred his cheek. “It is nothing to fret about, Care-oline. Don’t worry about me.” He quirked the eyebrow above his not-black eye. “You came back.”

She only looked at the stupidly cute smile on his lips for a second, but it was burned in her mind. “Yeah. I was too curious not too.” Truth is she wanted to hide from Damon and Bonnie, who were both convinced she was going insane. Well, Bonnie thought that; Damon was more concerned about how she found a fresh carrot in a mansion no one had been in in forever. (Even more so that she’d just taken a bite out of it.) Still, the curiosity isn’t completely untrue. She did want to meet the other siblings Niklaus talked about. (And okay, maybe she wanted to see him again. Shut up.)

“Well then, please accompany me back to the village and I will do my best to satiate your curiosity. I’ll tell nothing but the truth,” he vowed. Though she expected one, no bow happened. Bummer.

They linked arms, and he led them back to his home, with her practically holding him up. Well, not holding him up, but more making sure he didn’t fall or sway too much and then fall. She side-eyed him, concerned.

Her first few questions were simple -- “why do your houses look like that” (he wasn’t sure but everyone’s houses were like that so of course theirs was as well), “what year is it” (apparently it was the year 1000, to which she said “holy shit”, to which he gave her a look like she was the crazy one), “who are you other brothers” (Aaron, Finn, and Henrik), etc.

When they were almost to the village, she asked, “so you swear to tell the truth?”

He was instantly tense, but nodded anyway. What a champ.

She pulled away and put her hands on her hips, ready to slay him alive if he gave some bullshit excuse. “Good. Who did this to you?”

He scrubbed a hand through his hair, that had dirt in it, now that she looked. When he spoke, it was an embarrassed undertone, “my father.”

If she’d had a drink, she would’ve spit it everywhere. “Your dad?” She’d expected one of his brothers, or some guy from the village, or like, a tree or something. But not his own father; the thought was horrifying. He seemed too used to having injuries for her to think it was just a one time thing. He was talking around the split lip, walking mostly fine around the sight issues and the limp. It seemed like he was an old hat at this.

He flushed, cheeks brightening under her gaze. On one hand, it was cute and she wanted to see if he blushed anywhere else. On the other hand, he was basically admitting his father was abusive. Nothing about that was cute. 

“Yes. But as I told you before, it is not something you need to worry over. I am perfectly fine.” He didn’t let her respond before he was saying, “now, let’s continue. We mustn’t be late for supper.”

 

* * *

 

His home loomed high above her head once again. The roof was curved in a way that made her think of a boat; it made her itch to flatten it out. Inside, all the pillars were still there, just cutting into the space of the home. Worst of all was that there was no door, and she could see inside from several yards away.

Though really, she had no time to focus on the building itself.

As soon as Niklaus steered her to the logs where they ate, Kol and Rebekah had boxed her in. Kol seemed to be the same age, or maybe a little younger, but Rebekah was quite a bit younger. If she had to guess, she would say eighteen and sixteen to her own nineteen.

That, plus the fact that she was new, made them both over eager to speak to her. Elijah, who was definitely older than her, sat on Rebekah’s other side. Like last time, he was nice to her but not particularly interested.

Though she was instantly bombarded with questions, she noticed that they all watched Niklaus as he went inside, then came back and sat next to Kol.

She talked for a little while, laughing at Kol and complimenting Rebekah. She was great at the whole socializing thing, and it showed.

Up until the rest of the family joined them.

First was the youngest brother, Henrik. He looked nothing like any of them, except his skin being as flawless and pale as Rebekah’s. And his hair kind of resembled Elijah and Kol’s. But that was it.

He walked with a weird gait, but it didn’t slow him down at all, nor did anyone else seem to notice it. Caroline stood, thinking about her etiquette classes, and let him introduce himself (“I am Henrik, son of Mikael, and I am the most precious of the Mikaelson siblings,” to which Kol snorted and all three of the others hit him over the head).

“I am Caroline,” she said back. He waited, as did the rest, so she added, “Forbes…?”

A booming voice said, “no, your title, not your last name.” She swung around and came face to face with a guy so mean looking, Skeletor would look like a nice guy in comparison. She could feel his unspoken ‘duh’ (or maybe he was calling her a snivelling fool, but how was she to know).

_ So _ , she thought,  _ this dickhead is Mikael _ . Unless they have some kind of uncle she didn’t know about, this was Niklaus’ father. She noticed that he wasn’t the only one who stiffened when Mikael spoke -- the four she knew, as well as Henrik, all tensed and looked to the ground. 

Shit. How do you call the cops on a guy who lived a thousand years ago?

“Well?” He demanded.

“Caroline Forbes, resident person from the future.”

Her sass was unappreciated. He came closer, three more people trailing behind him. While they sat, he sized her up, leading her to stand as tall as she could and puff up. “What happened to Nicholas and Eli?” He finally asked.

“Who?” Was she supposed to know?

Elijah helpfully answered, “Hope’s sons.”

“Hope had children?” Caroline honestly knew nothing of the old lady, especially that she had children. Talk about a plot twist.

They all gave her looks like ‘duh’. Well okay then, Hope had children.

“Yes, and they had much more impressive titles than ‘resident person from the future’,” Mikael sneered.

She had nothing to say to that. He wouldn’t care if she was Miss Mystic Falls for three years in a row, a high school graduate, majoring in event planning and minoring in business, and one of few people who could say they’ve kicked Damon Salvatore in the dick. He wouldn't give a shit about anything she said, so she was forced to hold her tongue.

A hand pulled at her elbow, and then Rebekah was introducing the other three people. “This is my mother, Esther, and my brothers, Aaron and Finn. Mother, brothers, this is Caroline.”

If Elijah was politely uninterested, then Finn was in full IDGAF mode. Aaron was somewhere between Elijah and Henrik, who sat close, and Esther was erring on the side of Rebekah and Kol.

It was all awkward as hell, because they kept talking about people she didn’t know. Who were Joseph and Lydia? Oh, the Mikaelsons of the 1700’s. And who was Caleb? He was Caleb Mikaelson, born 1823, of course. Roscoe was Roscoe Mikaelson, who said he was a Confederate soldier, and James, who claimed he was fighting in a world war. (Kol, as he said it, had eyes so big, he looked like a Disney princess. Apparently the idea of the entire world warring was an attractive one.) Then there was Hope and her two sons who came through the wardrobe more often than any relatives before.

Secretly, she planned to search all of this when she got back home, try to prove these people were real.

But before she could do that, she had to disentangle herself from Rebekah and Kol (who, thank god, was mellowing as the night went on).

Luckily, Niklaus sensed what she needed, and stood. “May I accompany you back to the waterfall?”

“Sure, thank you.”

Again, Kol made a confused noise about her word choice.

Aaron stood as well, and moved swiftly towards her and Niklaus. He didn’t have the same gait as Henrik, she noticed. None of them did.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Caro-line. I am unsure if I will be here next time you visit, so I felt I should say it now.” He clasped her wrist, so she did the same.

Then, after they broke apart, she waved to everyone, and she and Niklaus were off.

They idly chit-chatted as they went. She asked about Aaron’s family, who was in a neighboring village. He’d told her his wife and children were unable to make the trip due to being pregnant or too little. He also said that he’d named his children after their future relatives, and as luck would have it, his wife was pregnant with a little girl. There would be a Caroline Mikaelson out in the world, apparently.

She’d shrugged, thanked him, and went back to listening Rebekah complain about a girl named Tatia.

When they got to the waterfall, she thanked him and kissed his bruised cheek gently. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said before heading back to the wardrobe.

 

* * *

 

Her phone was buzzing the second she stumbled back onto the hardwood floor.

A cursory glance said no time had passed, and it was Elena calling.

“Hello?”

Elena sobbed, “D-Damon and Stef-fan are in the hospital! They were found in the boarding house after Zach came home and he called me and…. God there was so much b-b-blood.”

Caroline ran for the front door, listening as Elena cried. Eventually, as Caroline was pushing the speed limit to get back to town, Elena hung up.

It took her another ten minutes to get to the hospital and then to the hallway outside the brothers’ rooms. Elena was still crying, Bonnie comforting her over an uncomfortable chair arm.

Numbly, she sat on Elena’s other side. “What happened?” She asked Bonnie in an undertone.

Bonnie shook her head, signalling she’d tell later.

Later was  _ hours  _ later, when Elena was in Damon’s room. Apparently he was the lesser injured brother. She’d had to fight Dr. Fell to be allowed to see him, which had only drained her further. It wouldn’t surprise Caroline if her friend was passed out in there.

As soon as she was gone, Bonnie explained. “Nobody's really sure what happened, honestly, except for the fact that Zach swears he heard someone in the house and there was a lot of blood loss. I think it was a robbery gone wrong, but we just aren’t sure,” Bonnie said apologetically.

“Holy shit,” she said, leaning back with a heavy sigh.

“Yeah,” she agreed. After a pause, she asked, “where were you that it took so long?”

Caroline figured Bonnie was to be trusted more than any of the others, so she said, “the Mikaelson mansion. I...I dropped my purse when I went in, and lost a few things. I couldn’t see in the dark, so I went today.” It worked fine as an excuse -- she could trust Bonnie, but the wardrobe would have to stay secret for now, lest Bonnie call her crazy.

Bonnie, instead of looking appeased, was alarmed. “Caroline...I didn’t say this last night, but that place gives me serious bad vibes. Like,  _ those  _ bad vibes.”

Her tone riled Caroline’s nerves. “Those bad vibes as in Lockwood cellar bad vibes or those bad vibes as in the underground tunnels bad vibes?”

“Tunnel bad vibes.” They shared a knowing look. “It feels evil, the whole building. It feels like it’s been used to summon the devil before. Promise me you won’t go back, Care, please.”

Well fuck, Caroline thought.

“Okay, I won't,” she promised, knowing she'd be back the next day.


End file.
